Progressive Christian podcasts: Recent Episodes
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Looking at the stars and imagining what’s out there – and our own place in it as humans – is a theme that’s preoccupied our species across time, across cultures, and across religious traditions.Dr Mehmet Ozalp is director of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University.Dr Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist who studies the process of star and planet formation in our own galaxy using radio, optical and infrared telescopes. She is also past director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion.
Why is rest such a challenge in our culture, in our time? Tricia Hersey has made it her life’s work to advocate for rest – developing a rest practice herself, and guiding others in the same direction.Tricia’s work isn’t about self-care or individual wellness, and there’s no neat hack for recalibrating your work/life balance. Instead, she advocates for a radical, countercultural form of rest grounded in a theology of Black liberation.Tricia Hersey is a performance artist, community organiser and founder of The Nap Ministry – an organisation devoted to the liberating power of rest. Her book is Rest is Resistance: Free yourself from grind culture and reclaim your life.
The first interview in this episode with Anne Pattel-Gray first aired 29 May 2022.The Mabo decision was a legal and cultural milestone in Australia, but thirty years on, how has it changed theology? For decades Dr Anne Pattel-Gray has been calling for racial justice in and through Christian churches. She says Mabo “shifts our whole perspective of how we interpret the Bible, of how we do theology.”Aunty Dr Anne Pattel-Gray is a Bidjara activist and theologian who has been a key figure in the movement to decolonise Australian theology for decades. She is the author of The Great White Flood, which has become a landmark text in religious studies, and was recently appointed Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity in Melbourne.Rev Mark Kickett is interim National Chair of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
This episode originally aired 22 May 2022.Have you ever found yourself in a place where heaven and earth seem to meet? Sacred architecture and aesthetics can make a person experience the numinous, even in a building not set aside for a religious purpose. Also, Papua New Guinea’s Baha’i community, are about to open a new house of worship in Port Moresby.Watch The Architect and the Mosque on Compass.Read Ayla Lepine’s article about sacred architecture on The Architectural Review.Ayla Lepine is the author of Gothic Legacies: Four Centuries of Tradition and Innovation in Art and Architecture and Modern Architecture and Religious Communities, 1850–1970.More information about Papua New Guinea’s new Baha’i house of worshipOfficial Site of the PNG Baha'i CommunityRev Dr Ayla Lepine is an art historian and Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at the National Gallery in London.Zha Agabe-Granfar and Saeed Granfar are part of the Baha’i community in Papua New Guinea. Saeed is the consulting architect of the new Baha’i temple in Port Moresby.
This episode first aired 5 June 2022.What does it take to re-green a desert? As it turns out, sometimes what you need is already in the ground right under your feet. Tony Rinaudo went to Niger as an agriculturalist and missionary and – almost by accident – began a regeneration practice now used across the world. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR, cultivates the shoots of tree stumps that remain after land clearing.Tony Rinaudo is an agronomist originally from Myrtleford in Victoria who developed Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) while on mission in Niger in the early 1980s. He is now the Principal Climate Action Advisor with World Vision Australia.Ruth Jerotich is a farmer in the Baringo region of Kenya. She began practicing Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration on her family’s land five years ago and has become an FMNR ambassador in her community.
The South Pacific – the liquid continent – is one of the most religious places on earth. The overwhelming majority of people identify as Christians of one kind or another – so what does that mean at Christmas?Rev James Bhagwan is an ordained minister in the Methodist church of Fiji, and since 2018, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches. The PCC is the peak ecumenical body in the Pacific - representing more than 40 different churches and national church councils, from across 19 different Pacific states and territories.Maria Komboy is a descendant of the Biak people of West Papua. She is a theologian and human rights advocate based in Jayapura, where she works in church and civil spaces to educate others about the basic rights of her people, and to advocate for peace and justice.For more on this topic, listen to God Forbid: Heaven on Earth: Religion in the Pacific.
As people around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas, Christians turn to the Gospels to read ancient accounts of Jesus.The gospel of John is the fourth gospel contained in the New Testament – and in some ways it stands apart from the other three, Matthew, Mark and Luke. From its famous opening words, “In the beginning was the Word”, its enthralled everyone from Origen to Bach to Dostoyevsky. The Gospels continue to inspire creative expressions of faith.Rev Professor Dorothy Lee is Stewart Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity College. She is co-editor of The Enduring Impact of the Gospel of John along with Bob Derrenbacker and Muriel Porter.Rev Canon Dr Bob Derrenbacker is Dean of the theological school at Trinity College. He is co-editor of The Enduring Impact of the Gospel of John along with Dorothy Lee and Muriel Porter.Anne Benjamin is a writer and poet who has spent decades reflecting on Jesus. She’s the author of After all this time: reflections on Jesus.
The Horn of Africa is one of the hottest and poorest regions on earth, and it’s home to a semi-nomadic community, the Afar. Valerie Browning is an Australian nurse who has given up her own way of life to live and work with Afar people for over 30 years.War in the horn of Africa has had a devastating impact on the Afar. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes just in the last two years – a small number of Afar now live in Australia as refugees.Valerie Browning AM is an Australian nurse who has lived and worked with Afar nomads in northern Ethiopia for more than 31 years. She is one of the founders of the Afar Pastoralists Development Association and was awarded an Order of Australia in 1999 for service to international humanitarian aid.Mohammed Salih is president of the Afar Community of Queensland, a group of nearly 60 people living in the greater Brisbane region. He grew up in Eritrea before moving to Australia as a refugee.
Do you have an enemy? Even if you do, you might not want to admit it, or say who!Melissa Florer-Bixler has thought a lot about enemies, especially in the political context of Donald Trump’s presidency. It gets complicated for her, because she is a pacifist Christian. How do you deal with enmity, when Jesus commands you to love your enemies?The solution isn’t always understanding and reconciliation.Melissa Florer-Bixler is pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church in North Carolina. She is the author of Fire by Night and How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace.
At the beginning of 2022, flooding in South-East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales upended the lives of thousands, including the area’s diverse religious communities. Hear how the area’s Sikhs provide aid even though their own gurdwara was inundated, and how the Jewish community practices hospitality as best they can in the lead-up to Pesach.Watch Fire, Flood and Resilience on iView.This episode originally aired on 10 April 2022.GuestsAmar Singh is founder of Turbans 4 Australia, a Sikh charity that was among the first organisations to deliver outside help to flood victims.Neville Singh is a retired banana grower in Murwillumbah and member of the local gurdwara which was flooded last month.Daniel Harris is administrator of the Facebook group Shevet (Tribe)
With the latest round of UN climate talks wrapping up recently, it’s a good time to ask a fundamental question: Who are we, in relation to nature? What kinds of relationships bind us to other beings, like trees?Maybe even amid climate change we can approach nature with celebration – even veneration?Dr Mahesh White Radhakrishnan is a musician, an ethnomusicologist and anthropological linguist at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a member of the group Hindus for Human Rights – Australia and New Zealand. They are also part of the ABC’s Top Five Arts media residency program. Their music can be found on YouTube.Louise Fowler-Smith is the founder of the Tree Veneration Society in Australia and author of the book Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature.
Where are you going? Journeys take many forms: Moving away from your parents’ house, being a tourist in a foreign land, or going on a pilgrimage to a site of profound spiritual significance – and all have a transformative effect on our lives.Dr Giselle Bader has a PhD in religious studies from Sydney University. Her research looked at fourth century pilgrimage to the holy land, including the pilgrimages of women like Egeria and Paula, and how accounts of their journeys have been received over the years.Sarah Malik is an award-winning journalist and author of Safar, a new collection of Muslim women’s travel stories.
How important is music to you? Does it have a sacred quality in your life? From contemporary Catholic theology to the goth icon Nick Cave, music speaks to the soul in ways other media does not.Dr Lyn McCredden is emeritus professor of literary studies at Deakin university in Melbourne. Read her essay about Nick Cave’s book Faith, Hope and Carnage in The Conversation.Dr Greg Clarke is a former CEO of the Australian Institute of Music, and before that, of the Bible Society of Australia.Dr Maeve Heaney is a consecrated missionary of the Verbum Dei community and director of the Xavier Centre of Theology at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. She’s also a singer songwriter and the author of a new book called Suspended God: Music and a Theology of Doubt.
Frank Wilczek is a Nobel Prize winner, and earlier this year he was named the 2022 Templeton laureate as well – a recognition of his spiritual as well as scientific curiosity.He’s a scientist, renowned for theorising the strong force in atomic nuclei, but more basically he sees beauty as perhaps our best guide to truth.Frank Wilczek is Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT, the 2022 Templeton Laureate, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize and author of several popular books including A Beautiful Question and The Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.
The Flinders Ranges in the semi-arid outback of South Australia is one of the oldest places on earth and the cradle of Adnyamathanha culture, ceremony and language.In addition to being an ancient place of cultural and spiritual significance, it’s the site of a recent archaeological discovery that rewrites Western understandings of the history of human habitation of the area.Terrence Coulthard is a senior custodian of Adnyamathanha culture and language who compiled the first Adnyamathanha dictionary, published in 2020. He is administrator of Iga Warta.Dr Giles Hamm is one of the key researchers working on the Warratyi Rock Shelter, and the lead author of the Nature article Cultural innovation and megafauna interaction in the early settlement of arid Australia.The ABC published a report when the Warratyi Rock Shelter was first rediscovered.Read more about the Warratyi Rock Shelter on the Flinders University website.
Women, where they speak and what they say, has been a hot topic for nearly 2000 years of Christian history. Modern moves to empower women to teach and preach in churches can seem opposed to ancient Christian texts, but the early church was far from unified about “a woman’s place”.One-hundred years on from the landmark decision to licence Anglican women to preach, and 30 years on from the first ordination of Australian women as Anglican priests, how easily can women raise their voices in the church? And what happens when they’re prevented?
In this messy old world, we all find ourselves on the receiving end of harm. But then – sometimes it’s us, we’re the one in the wrong. How do we face it?
In the past it’s been a joke to put Jedi as your religion on the census, but there are people who practise Star Wars-inspired faiths quite seriously. It turns out, people really do take things from fiction and incorporate them into their spiritual lives, either as modern mythology, or even as full-blown religious systems.
The Satanic Panic was a time of incredible anxiety in the United States – and Australia. This special feature examines how games like Dungeons and Dragons and books like Harry Potter became unlikely villains in a war over religion, politics and imagination.
Funerals have been front and centre these past few weeks. The rituals we use to memorialise the dead are only one part of the story – what about the material things we use to mark the life of someone who has died?
How do deserts shape our sense of the sacred? For centuries people have found deserts spiritually transformative – not just for individuals but for whole communities.
Sidney Nolan is best known for his Ned Kelly series and Anzac portraits, but secretly, privately, he also painted around 200 works about the Holocaust. They’re now display in Australia for the first time at the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Is human life bound to planet earth? If so, what does that mean for our ambitions to colonise space? Even our fledgling space exploration has caused damage to the near-earth environment, so space ethicists are beginning to advocate for space conservation, too.
“Once upon a time” is a familiar beginning for tales of adventure and heroism. But if stories also capture and pass on to our kids what we know of the world, can a story help broach the reality of death – our own, and those of the people we love?
According to a 2021 study by Monash University, 99% of phone users experience ‘nomophobia’: the fear of being without our phones. But we’re also living in a loneliness crisis, according to the experts. So what are the spiritual costs to ourselves and our communities when we seek connection through our devices, rather than in each other?
We all know trees are important for the environment – to clean the air and hold the soil together, but for many people they’re also important for spirituality and culture.
In today’s busy world it might feel difficult to connect with something deeper – or bigger – than ourselves. If you are religious, you might go to your clergy for advice, but increasingly spiritual directors are being trained to journey with religious and non-religious people alike.
Imagine leaving everything you know behind and going to a place that’s completely foreign to you. This is what Christian missionaries have done for nearly 2,000 years, sharing what they believe is good news for all of humanity. But given the history of Christian mission and colonialism, is this activity an expression of love, or religious and cultural coercion? Or perhaps… a bit of both?
In this special NAIDOC episode, guest host Brooke Prentis chats to singer Royston Sagigi-Baira about growing up in the remote community of Old Mapoon on Tjungundji Country in Western Cape York.
Religion, like the media, is changing fast in Australia. What does this mean for the national broadcaster as it reflects and informs Australian life? Plus, the war chaplain turned journalist who became the ABC's first head of religious programming.
Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.
What would you do if you knew you had an unconditional, permanent, adequate income that would cover all your basic expenses… no matter how much or how little work you did? It’s an idea that has the backing of the Pope and one of Australia’s largest religious charities – why do these Christians support it?
Joan Chittister found her community as a teenager, seventy years ago, when she joined the Benedictine sisters in Pennsylvania. For decades she has devoted herself to renewing community in and beyond the Catholic church. Her fierce advocacy for women has put her at odds with some within the hierarchy, but as a spiritual writer she had brought the insights of her tradition to a wider world.
What does it take to re-green a desert? As it turns out, sometimes what you need is already in the ground right under your feet. Tony Rinaudo went to Niger as an agriculturalist and missionary and – almost by accident – began a regeneration practice now used across the world. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, or FMNR, cultivates the shoots of tree stumps that remain after land clearing.
The Mabo decision was a legal and cultural milestone in Australia, but thirty years on, how has it changed theology? For decades Dr Anne Pattel-Gray has been calling for racial justice in and through Christian churches. She says Mabo “shifts our whole perspective of how we interpret the Bible, of how we do theology.”
Have you ever found yourself in a place where heaven and earth seem to meet? Sacred architecture and aesthetics can make a person experience the numinous, even in a building not set aside for a religious purpose. Also, Papua New Guinea’s Baha’i community, are about to open a new house of worship in Port Moresby.
What do we do with suffering – as we experience it ourselves, and in the world around us? Meredith Lake explores solidarity in the midst of violence, both through activism and poetry.
Can literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.
In what could be described as Korea’s ‘terracotta warrior’ moment, a farmer digging in a vacant field discovered scores of stone statues depicting arhats – or disciples of the Buddha. Unearthed from their hiding place, the Arhats now part of a luscious display touring around the world. In Sydney, a Bosnian refugee describes how she fled war in her home country and built a new life for herself after coming to Australia.
Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.
The crucifixion of Christ is perhaps the most painted subject in world history. From Medieval art, to the Renaissance masters to contemporary works, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection pervades the Western imagination – even amid rapid secularisation.
Recent flooding in South-East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales has upended the lives of thousands, including the area’s diverse religious communities. Hear how the area’s Sikhs provide aid even though their own gurdwara was inundated, and how the Jewish community practices hospitality as best they can in the lead-up to Pesach.
Is there a recipe that sums up your story or personal history? As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, one family is observing the holy month in Australia for the first time. For them, their recipe for Bolani – a type of stuffed and fried flat bread – represents solidarity between women.
What did religious life look like in Ancient Greece? Find out how the gods played a role in everything from daily life to outcomes on the battlefield. Then, fast forward to just before federation in Australia and discover the untold story of Reverend Dr Charles Strong, the possibility of a national Church and progressive Christian activism.
Can the practice of artmaking be a religious ritual? A contemporary fresco painter, Sarah Tomasetti, and a philosopher, Dr Lexi Eikelboom, explore the ways in which art has big things in common with theology, and whether there's spiritual significance to art practice itself on its own terms – not reducible to religion, or such that it can replace religion.
“We can’t have a secular Māori culture. It just doesn’t work for us, it’s not how we view the world.” Third generation Anglican minister, Rev Dr Hirini Kaa, has written a book, Te Hāhi Mihinare: The Māori Anglican church, that opens up a whole new perspective on Māori spirituality and Christianity, the wisdom of reciprocity, and possible paths to spiritual flourishing.
To mark International Women's Day, we hear from two remarkable women – worlds apart – on their experiences of liberating religion and women from within their religious and cultural contexts.
How do we live well in times of crisis? Whether it's a global pandemic or a more personal dilemma, two of Australia's leading spiritual guides share their thoughts on how to make it through difficult times – and even find spiritual nourishment and growth.
He was the moral conscience of South Africa, a hero in the struggle against apartheid, and one of the spiritual giants of our time. The legacy of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lives on through people like Michael Battle, Director of the Desmond Tutu Centre in the US. Dr Battle lived with the renowned bishop and theologian as his student and personal chaplain during the dismantling of apartheid.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr called him an 'Apostle of Peace' when nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. To many, he's known as the Buddhist monk who introduced the practice of mindfulness to the West and popularised it. Explore the life and legacy Thich Nhat Hanh –renowned Zen master, monk, poet, peace activist, teacher and global spiritual leader.
How secular, or not, is China today? As many of us celebrate Lunar New Year, Soul Search heads to China. Professor Mayfair Yang discusses the resurgence of popular region in China – from local cults to lineage organisations, Protestant Christianity to modern Taoism. Then we chat to British-born, Australian-Chinese illustrator, Chrissy Lau, who is at the forefront of the popular representation of Lunar New Year – reimagining her own heritage for a new generation.
Francis Spufford is a storyteller who sees grace and beauty in the grimiest and grittiest of places. He challenges us to look closely and catch a glimpse of something wildly precious and extraordinary, even holy and eternal. Also, Mehmet Ozalp previews the inaugural Sydney Muslim Writers' festival and explains the significance of the pen in the Islamic faith.
How Kate Bowler, a self-described incurable optimist and expert on the American prosperity gospel, faced the biggest challenge of her life – which upended everything she knew about health, wealth and what it means to live a good and successful life.
Many Indigenous languages have a word that means something like ‘deep listening’. In Ngan'gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is dadirri. We hear from renowned Aboriginal elder and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, who advocates for a kind of listening — a quiet awareness — that sums up a whole way of being. We also meet Wiradjuri and Wailwaan woman Fleur Magick Dennis on a different kind of meditation and ethical reflection.
Do you ever look around and think, there must be a better way to do life, here? We’re meeting people asking the big question of how to live well in the world as we find it. Hear from Dr Jonathan Cornford, a political economist on a mission to live more slowly, gently, and simply, and Asher Packman, the current President of Meditation Australia.
Muslim cameleers have a rich history in Australia – that you may not have heard much about. They're the men who transformed the economic, cultural and spiritual life of many outback communities at the turn of the 20th century.
Meredith Lake chats to podcaster and author Casper ter Kulie whose been thinking about a big question: How do we make meaning as communities, and deepen our sense of connection to one another?
Acclaimed ethologist and 2021 Templeton Prize winner, Jane Goodall, tells us about the many teachers who have gifted her with lessons on humanity and hope: from her childhood reading tree to her first dog, the Gombe forest and, of course, her beloved chimps.
It has been quite the year for many of us — but what's gotten you through? What everyday wisdom and practices have nourished you and being good for your soul? Hear the answers to these questions and more from friends of the show: the always insightful academics and authors, Alda Balthrop-Lewis and David Newheiser, GP and Yamatji Badimaya woman, Dr Umber Rind, Adelaide-based Rabbi, Shoshanna Kaminsky, and Wakka Wakka woman and CEO of Common Grace, Brooke Prentis.
Join Dr Meredith Lake and Suvira Bhikkhuni as they trace the revival of the ordination of Theravada women — one of the most important recent reforms within global Buddhism.
At the turn of the 20th Century, a teenage military cadet and budding poet began a correspondence with Rainer Maria Rilke. The young man expected some guidance and criticism from the great German poet but received something far greater: instructions on love and solitude, beauty and art, spirituality and life. Almost 100 years on, two grand dames of literature – Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows – have delivered a new translation of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, unveiling new insights in the context of today's world.
Shakespeare's world was marked by social change, spiritual tumult and cosmic disorientation – Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, Europeans were exploring the Americas, and a heliocentric model of our solar system was taking shape. Join us as we explore the religious landscape of Elizabethan-era England, and how the Bard grappled with emerging ideas about self, the supernatural, and humanity's place in the cosmos.
Claude AnShin Thomas enlisted in the US Army at 17, served as a helicopter gunner and crew chief in the Vietnam War, and was awarded numerous medals and a Purple Heart – all before becoming ordained as a Zen Buddhist monk. He carries the responsibility for much death and destruction, but has learned to live peacefully with unpeacefulness and is helping others do the same.
How do we navigate the mundane of the everyday, the ordinariness of life, without becoming dull to it's depth, beauty and capacity to surprise? A poet presents his award-winning meditation on walking around Wagga, and an ex-priest takes us on a mental excursion through the history of philosophy to explore the wisdom of the stoics, epicurans, and many of the world's greatest thinkers.
What does forgiveness look like in the messiness and chaos that is real life? A filmmaker shares the intimate and courageous story of her own tumultuous relationship with her mother, and her journey towards love and acceptance. A professor describes forgiveness as a work of love, and explains the difference between the act of forgiveness and the virtue of forgivingness – and the importance of both.
Are suburbs spiritual deserts or sacred wellsprings? In the places where most of us live our day to day lives, where do we go to find joy and hope, beauty and grace – and how do we experience the transcendent and divine?
Glaciers matter to the people who live near them – but how do these communities respond as more and more ice melts away? A priestess of the Icelandic religion of Ásatrú explains how ancient Norse mythology orients her towards nature, and a professor shares how her experiences on the Himalayan glaciers revealed a deep connection between spirituality and the lived reality of climate change.
Soul Search returns to our Sacred Landscapes series that explores the connections between spirituality and place. We turn to the cool climates with our guides – Dr Jonica Newby and Professor Jakelin Troy – taking us into the coldest regions of Australia and deepening our understanding of the spiritual importance of snow.
Professor Elaine Pagels has spent decades seeking to understand religion and, as her latest book reveals, this isn’t a merely academic exercise but a quest bound up with her own experience of life and bereavement.
It's the end of the Merkel era in Germany. We take a look at the faith and politics of this remarkable leader who has been at the helm of Europe's largest economy for almost 16 years. Then, we step a little further back in German history to explore the life and work of Karl Barth, a prolific theologian who was one of the main authors of the Barmen Declaration – a document resisting the Nazification of the church.
What happens when a sceptical writer immerses herself in peak Christian belief at a creationist museum? What happens when a Christian minister confronts the past and present horrific failures of the church? Hear from authors Sarah Krasnostein and John Dickson about what they learned when they confronted belief and unbelief, how it moved and changed them.
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." To mark 700 years since Dante's death on 14 September 1321, we're taking a close look at his life and masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. Join Dr Meredith Lake and a host of Dante experts and enthusiasts as we journey from hell to purgatory to paradise.
Soulmates. Star-crossed lovers, couple goals, my other half. Or besties, brother-from-another-mother, my person. Whatever form they come in, they're the people we can't live without. So, what role do soulmates have in shaping our thoughts and ideas, emotions and behaviours, and all the significant and trivial aspects of our daily lives?
Strangers. We pass them in the street. We live next door to them. We have conversations with them online. What brings strangers together, and what keeps us apart? Why do our interactions with strangers matter? In this episode we explore interactions between strangers in our pandemic world, and in a community reeling from tragedy.
Siblings. Most of us have them, and they're the closest and longest relationships many of us will have in our lifetimes. So, how do sibling relationships shape us? And what can we learn from brothers and sisters in religious traditions, fairytales and folklore?
As the Tokyo Olympics draws to a close, we mark another significant date on the calendar: Hiroshima Day. Hear from two women about their work to spread peace around the world by planting Hiroshima A-bomb survivor trees in 36 countries so far – and counting.
A lapsed Catholic and a professor of theology on why there's a whole lot more to atheism than mere unbelief, and how atheists and theists may have more in common than you think.
Join Soul Search host Meredith Lake and curator Sue Cramer as they take you on an audio tour of Hilma af Klint's works of incredible vibrancy and power that demonstrate her spiritual adventurousness and bravery – incredible, massive paintings that were kept secret for decades after her death.
What are the possibilities for a grounded spirituality, in the aftermath of colonisation? Indigenous theologian Garry Deverell has lived the search for a spirituality that connects land and body. He joins Meredith Lake to discuss ritual, reconnection and reconciliation.
This NAIDOC week Meredith Lake hands over the mic to guest presenter Brooke Prentis. Brooke is a Wakka Wakka woman who was born on Yidinji country, grew up mainly in Gubbi Gubbi country, but now lives on Gadigal land in Sydney. She's also an Aboriginal Christian leader and she shares about her journey of faith, the Aboriginal Christian leaders that inspire her, and what she's up to in her current role as CEO of Common Grace, a Christian movement in Australia.
In the lead up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo we look at the relationship between religion and sport. We speak to young Christian athlete Nicola McDermott, a Shia Muslim Olympian Hayder Shkara, and a Japanese writer Shotaro Honda Moore.
Mountains have often been the location for spiritual experiences, or breakthroughs. On Soul Search today, we're turning to the mountains in our third — and final — episode on Sacred Landscapes. We meet Dr Thomas Michael, an expert on the religious significance of mountains in Eastern and Western thought, and Gary Khor, Grandmaster of tai chi, who goes on regular journeys to sacred mountains in China.
Trees have a special place in the human imagination and they feature in many of the world’s cultural and religious traditions. The ancient Hebrew poets even imagined trees themselves shouting for joy in praise of a divine creator. Today we explore the forest as a sacred landscape in Northern Ethiopia, and at the Wat Buddha Dhamma Monastery nestled within the Dharug National Park in New South Wales.
How do the places we love shape our sense of the sacred? And how are our spiritual lives nurtured by the bush, the mountains — or even the sea? In the first episode of our 3-part series Sacred Landscapes, we hear from Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, who tells us why religion and spiritual matter in the Anthropocene. Then we hear from Rev Dr Jione Havea, a pastor from Tonga, on what it means to him to belong to the islands and to their seas.
Today, an exclusive interview with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. He’s a Ducati-riding yogi and spiritual teacher, who has caught the attention of millions worldwide, and there's a lot to discuss — from karma to COVID-19 and politics in India. We also hear from Associate Professor Monima Chadha, an expert on classical Indian thought, to talk about the origins of the concept of karma, and the misconceptions surrounding karma today.
Today, an exclusive interview with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. He’s a Ducati-riding yogi and spiritual teacher, who has caught the attention of millions worldwide, and there's a lot to discuss — from karma to COVID-19 and politics in India. We also hear from Associate Professor Monima Chadha, an expert on classical Indian thought, to talk about the origins of the concept of karma, and the misconceptions surrounding karma today.
Irrespective of whether or not you are a fan of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical, Hamilton, it’s a fascinating and provocative take on the early American republic. So what are some of the questions the Musical opens up about religion and the American Revolution?
Once upon a time, Australia was described as 'a workingman’s paradise.' But does that ring true – either in the past, or now? On Soul Search we’re looking at work, and at one of the world’s most influential discussions of it. 130 years ago this month, Pope Leo XIII, put out a statement on capital and labour known as Rerum Novarum, a controversial document, even in 1891, and it had a big influence here in Australia.
How can we live in proper relationships with other species? We often consider environmental questions in terms of science, or perhaps economics or even politics. But what can religious perspectives - like Buddhism - add to the conversation? As the world marks Earth Day on April 22, on Soul Search we're revisiting a conversation with Professor Stephanie Kaza.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, selling more than a million copies since the first English version was published in the 1920s. But why does the book of the dead resonate so deeply with the living? And, in our diverse and often divided world, can different faiths seek peace together? Catholic priest, writer and theologian, Hans Kung passed away recently. We revisit his ideas.
American poet W.H. Auden said that 'poetry, might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.' On Soul Search today, we meet two religious poets this Ramadan. Sara Saleh is an award-winning Arab-Australian poet whose attuned to the messiness of life and the ambiguities of faith, and contemporary Sufi master Cemalnur Sargut, who is one of Turkey's leading spiritual teachers.
On this Easter Sunday as Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are joined by internationally renowned artist Makoto Fujimura as he reflects on suffering, humanity, time, and creativity. And we travel to the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Western Sydney, to take a look at the 66th Blake Prize exhibition — one of Australia’s longest running and most prestigious prizes for religious and spiritual art.
What kind of memory do we need to face an uncertain future? Jewish communities are asking that right now, as they recall the ancient exodus out of slavery in Egypt. Professor Danielle Celermajer reflects on how we might face up to the climate crisis, and African-American and Jewish culinary historian, Michael Twitty, explains how food and memory are inextricably linked.
What does it mean to face up to slavery today? What exactly does slavery look like in the modern world? Were the convicts slaves? And what about Indigenous Australians? Jacob Sarkodee, Chief Impact Officer for the International Justice Mission and Jane Lydon, author of Anti-slavery and Australia: No slavery in a free land? join the program.
Today, we’re heading into the woods for a fresh look at nineteenth century philosopher-poet, Henry David Thoreau. What was Thoreau’s vision of the good life, and of the just society? Alda Balthrop-Lewis's new book is being hailed as a once-in-a-generation interpretation of Thoreau, and she joins Meredith Lake to discuss the man who wrote one of the great classics of American literature: Walden.
Is it women who need to change, or the society and the institutions we live with? That’s our question as the world marks International Women’s Day this week. We are joined by an icon of the feminist movement, Eva Cox and Paralympic swimming champion, medical doctor, and ordained Anglican deacon, Gemma Dashwood.
What does it mean to believe? To say 'this is what I believe the truth to be'? Today on the show, theologian Ben Myers joins Meredith Lake in discussing the ancient Christian statement of belief, known as the Apostles' Creed. And, our mini-series on faith and sex concludes with a look at the role of intimacy in Hinduism.
Today on Soul Search we saunter through the world of words. Two Australian lexicographers Sue Butler and Amanda Laugesen explore how words come about in a dictionary – and how religious words like karma, temple, and Zen entered popular use. Then part two of our series on faith & sex continues with a look at the role of intimacy in Islam.
Is it possible to be traditional and unconventional at the same time? To be steeped in a culture — but also open to change? Today on Soul Search we have a variety of stories that explore just that - from Lunar New Year, to the Indian subcontinental festival of Basant Panchami, and a new series on faith and sex.
Today on Soul Search we head to New Norcia in WA — the only monastic town in Australia. Founded by Spanish Benedictine monks over 170 years ago, New Norcia is a place with no smooth or easy stories; a place that stays with you - for better or for worse.
Today, we meet two visionary people on the long pilgrimage towards justice. Dr Anne Pattel Gray is a globally recognized expert on Black theology, and the first Indigenous Australian to be awarded a doctorate in theology in the 1990s. We also speak to Uncle Alf 'Boydie' Turner, the grandson of the legendary Yorta Yorta leader William Cooper whose lifelong pursuit of justice remains remarkably relevant today.